A meditation by Michael Pahl on Eternity Sunday, November 24, 2019, called “God’s Peaceable Kingdom.” It is a reflection on Psalm 46.

Here is a written excerpt:

At some point in our lives, all of us come to this place: teetering on the brink of disaster, engulfed in anxiety or despair, realizing the precariousness of our lives, our relationships, our carefully constructed worlds.

But this has always been the reality of our human existence: we are caught in the now of harsh experience and elusive promise, catching only glimpses of the not yet of some bright future.

Psalm 46 speaks right into this reality. It speaks directly to us in our unstable, uncertain worlds. And it says this:

God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.

Three times the Psalm says this: “God is our refuge. God is our refuge. God is our refuge.”

When all is falling down around us, “God is our refuge.”

When our world is crumbling from within, “God is our refuge.”

When our lives are pressed down by forces beyond our control, “God is our refuge.”